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Guide Dogs
More than likely you have heard about guide dogs more than once in your life. However, how many of you know what guide dogs really are? The truth of the matter is, guide dogs are trained dogs that are made to help lead the blind. They can help lead people around different obstacles that could get in their way. Guide dogs for the blind are usually called seeing eye dogs in the United States. These dogs go through guide dog training, but they can only do half of the work. As some of you may already know, dogs are almost color blind, which means they can not tell the difference between red and green. Thus, they are not able to help the blind interpret the street signs. Guide dogs and their handlers have to work together as a team. Pretty much the blind has to know where he is going, and the dog just helps get them get there safely. One good thing about guide dogs, like seeing eye dogs and hearing dogs, is the fact that they are exempt from regulations that do not let dogs in buildings. After all, these dogs have had special training and know now to act in these kinds of places.
So guide dogs for the blind have been around for a long time, but how long? Well it is said that the very first guide dog training school was first made in Germany around the time of World War I. This school was made to train dogs to help veterans that were returning from combat that had become blind. Soon after, in 1929, the United States started this as well. The very first United Stats guide dog training school was located in Morristown, New Jersey. Some other very cool informations to know is that the very first American to use a seeing eye dog was Mr. Morris Frank, and his guide dog's name was Buddy. So as you can see, guide dogs have been around for a long time, and as the world changes, so does the training these dogs have to go through. It's important to point out that these dogs become very attached to helping their masters. The dogs can sense that there is something wrong, and it's almost as if they choose to help, not made to help.
Over the years there have been many types of different guide dogs. In fact, in Britain the very first guide dogs where the German Shepherds. As people started to learn what kind of breeds were easier to train, they started appointing those dogs good seeing eye dogs as well. Three of the most used breeds are the Labradors, the Golden Retrievers, and of course, the German Shepherd. Some other types of guide dogs for the blind are used, however. Many people even train dogs like Dobermans and Collies to do this work as well. The most popular right now, is the mix dogs. These are dogs like Labradors and Golden Retrievers that have been breed together. This is very popular, because both of these dogs are very intelligent. There are some other different types of mixes as well.
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